In an age of slick, labyrinthine crimes dramas such as The Killing and Broadchurch, Inspector George Gently (BBC One) is beginning to feel tired. Returning for its sixth series after a 17-month hiatus, it picked up the story in 1969, with social revolution in the air and public mistrust for the police growing. Tensions in inner-city Newcastle were palpable.

The dour Inspector Gently (Martin Shaw) and his intemperate sidekick John Bacchus (Lee Ingleby), both of whom were shot in Durham Cathedral at the end of the previous series, were still coping with the aftermath; the latter had spent six months in hospital and was now suffering from post-traumatic stress. His confidence shattered, Bacchus handed in his resignation, only for Gently to insist that he help him with one last case: the mysterious death of a rioter in police custody.

The story of what happened next unfolded at a soporific pace; I must confess to having to rewind parts of it after losing concentration. There were, however, a couple of neat exchanges nestled in Timothy Prager’s (Waking the Dead) script. One of these took place after Gently and Bacchus had interviewed a police constable suspected of being involved in a cover-up. “She said ‘Hobson’s choice’,” Bacchus told Gently, before concluding triumphantly, “It was Hobson.” The meaning of “Hobson’s Choice” was then explained to him.

Nevertheless, there was a spark missing from this opening episode; it felt far too formulaic. True, detective dramas such as Inspector Morse and its Sixties-set prequel Endeavourdon’t knock themselves out to be original either, but that’s because they’ve got charm and great characterisation. Gently doesn’t have that – and as a result, it’s as drab as the Newcastle sky in winter.